Updates with Meylin
Since Meylin first came to visit with us in 2013 we have been with her and her family a couple of times since then. As you will recall, Meylin came for 5 1/2 weeks from January 17, 2013 thru February 26, 2013. We had a wonderful time with her and she came back the next year for 7 1/2 weeks; January 8, 2014 thru March 1, 2014.
2014: While Meylin was with us her sister, Kamuy, came to visit and stayed with us for 2 weeks. I asked Meylin what she wanted us to show Kamuy. Without hesitation she said Luray Caverns and so we went to Luray Caverns and returned home via Skyline Drive. While Kamuy was with us we went to Williamsburg for a few days staying in our timeshare at Powhatan Plantation. Of course a trip to WV had to include a visit to Washington, DC. You know the two are so close to each other. Before Meylin returned home we took a trip to New York City spending 3 nights there. We went to ground zero, the aircraft carried docked in the Hudson River, Wall Street, Broadway, Times Square, Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We took a river cruise around Manhattan and of course visited China Town.
One memory was when we were in China Town and walking down the street we passed two guys about Meylin's age and they spoke to her in Chinese. No response from Meylin. I told them she was from Peru. We rounded the block and passed them again. This time they got her attention speaking Spanish to her. I telling her I was going to tell her parents that two guys tried to pick her up while in New York.
The entire time Meylin was with us during 2013 and 2014 her parents kept asking when
we were coming to Peru. In 2014 I told Meylin I was going to call their bluff. So, Lorrie
and I talked about what we could do and then we talked with Meylin and her parents and decided a good time to come would be in July/August. We told them we could come for 2 weeks or so. They finally convinced us to come for 4 weeks and that we would stay at their home in Lima.
July 16, 2014 - August 11, 2014 we travelled to Peru. As I said, we stayed with Meylin and her family at their home in Lima. Tans were very generous and gracious hosts who made our visit outstanding. We met many friends and family and traveled with them throughout the country. We rode dune buggys on the HUGE sand dunes of Ica, and climbed the ruins at Ollaylantambo and Macchu Picchu. We traveled to Tarma, Cuzco, Huaraz, Huancayo and Paracas. We traveled by automobile, planes, trains and buses; all very comfortable.
One of my memories was an evening when we were with our tour guide, Lucho, and everyone went into a local shop. Lucho and I were standing together on the side walk outside of the shop. Lucho did not speak English and I don't speak Spanish. I learned earlier in the day that he plays guitar in a local band. Music is that universal language that really allowed us to connect. Now, liking to sing myself, I began to teach Lucho the first few lines of the song Hello Mary Lou which was made popular by Ricky Nelson. I know the song since my barbershop chorus and quartet sang it often. We had fun out there that evening and Lucho did very well. Later that evening, back at our hotel, I taught him and our driver, another Lucho, the scale - Ice Cream - from Music Man. The two Luchos, Lorrie and I sang that in the lobby of the hotel. On that night alone I introduced both men to the barbershop style of singing.
We went to so many places. We traveled with Meylin and her family, Meylin's best friend Maria and Kamuy's friend Nellie for a week. We were with a tour guide and our home base that week was in the city of Tarma. We went to the mountain of rocks where we relied on bottled oxygen as we climbed. We visited a cave and we saw quinoa growing, at about 12,000 feet. Quinoa is grown as a grain crop and has been used as a food staple in South America for about 4,000 years. We saw Peruvian salt being produced in evaporation ponds and visited a goldsmith's shop where he made all of the jewelry in the shop.
When we left Peru we had no idea when we would see Meylin again. Living on different continents makes it a little harder to do. Little did we know we would see her again in May 2016.
